What is the best free playlist app?
Playlist apps have become extremely popular in recent years as a convenient way to listen to music. With playlist apps, users can easily create playlists of their favorite songs or listen to curated playlists based on genre, mood, activity, and more. The top playlist apps provide access to millions of songs that users can stream on demand, without having to purchase individual tracks or albums. This frees users to discover and enjoy more music than ever before.
When evaluating the top free playlist apps, some key criteria include: the size of the music library, ability to create customizable playlists, presence of curated playlists, availability of offline listening, audio quality, user interface, and extra features like lyrics or music videos. The best playlist apps make exploring, organizing and listening to music a seamless experience. This article will compare the most popular free music playlist apps available today across these key dimensions.
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Spotify
Spotify is widely popular with a large music library and over 381 million active users as of 2022 (https://newsroom.spotify.com/company-info/). It offers both a free, ad-supported version as well as a paid subscription option. The free version provides access to Spotify’s full catalog of over 70 million songs which users can stream on-demand (https://www.spotify.com/us/premium/). They can also create, edit, and share playlists with other users. The main limitations of the free tier are periodic ads, shuffle-only play for certain albums, and limited skips. Overall, Spotify’s free version provides a substantial free offering compared to other music platforms. The large catalog, playlists, and app accessibility has made Spotify a top choice for streaming music.
Youtube Music
YouTube Music is Google’s streaming music service built into the YouTube app. It gives you access to millions of official songs, albums, playlists, and artist radio stations. Beyond just music videos, YouTube Music opens up remixes, covers, and live versions as well. You can create playlists, get customized recommendations, and listen across all your devices.
Some key features of YouTube Music include:
- Stream over 80 million official songs, covers, and remixes
- Ad-free music with YouTube Premium
- Offline listening for when you don’t have an internet connection
- Create personalized stations and playlists based on your tastes
- Listen across mobile, desktop, speakers, TVs, and more
YouTube Music leverages Google’s machine learning to study your listening patterns and serve up recommendations tailored specifically to you. The more you use it, the better it gets at suggesting new artists, albums, and tracks to enjoy.
As YouTube’s flagship music service, YouTube Music aims to be a seamless hub for all things music. With both official catalog content and user-generated material, it provides an unparalleled music library.
SoundCloud
SoundCloud is one of the best apps for uploading and sharing original music creations. With over 200 million tracks hosted, SoundCloud gives artists a platform to distribute their music worldwide (How does SoundCloud work?). Users can upload up to 3 hours of audio for free, while SoundCloud Pro and Pro Unlimited subscriptions provide unlimited upload time and storage. SoundCloud also contains a huge collection of remixes, DJ sets, and other rare tracks not found on mainstream services. Users can create playlists of their favorite tracks to share with others or listen to privately.
Pandora
Pandora is one of the original personalized radio apps. It pioneered the idea of creating customized radio stations based on your favorites. The free ad-supported version lets you create unlimited stations for free. You can give feedback on songs by “thumbing up” ones you like, and Pandora will play more similar songs.
Some key features of the free Pandora version include:
- Create unlimited personalized radio stations
- Hear few or no ads depending on your listening activity
- “Thumb up” favorites to further customize your station
While Pandora requires an account and has ads, the free tier provides a robust radio listening experience. If you want unlimited skips and replays or features like offline listening, Pandora offers paid subscription plans as well.
Amazon Music
Amazon Music is a free music streaming service available for Amazon Prime members. With an Amazon Prime membership, you get access to a library of over 2 million songs and thousands of expertly curated playlists and stations ad-free. This includes top playlists and stations for genres like pop, hip hop, classical, country, and more. Everything can be streamed directly within the Amazon Music app.
One of the best parts of Amazon Music is that you can download playlists and songs for offline listening. So if you are traveling or somewhere without an internet connection, you can still access your favorite music by downloading it in advance. This makes Amazon Music a reliable free option for music on the go.
To get started with Amazon Music, all you need is an Amazon Prime membership which gives you full access to the streaming catalog. There is also an Amazon Music Unlimited paid option that opens up access to over 100 million songs. But the base Prime membership already includes a solid music library to enjoy without ads.
Apple Music
Apple Music offers a generous three month free trial for new subscribers, allowing you to test out the service before committing. The library includes over 100 million songs that can be streamed ad-free. Apple leverages its Siri technology to allow voice commands for music management. For example, you can ask Siri to play a specific song, artist or playlist. Siri can also handle tasks like queuing up the next track or liking a song.
Apple Music shines with its tailored playlists and radio stations. The service’s algorithms learn your music tastes and create personalized playlists to match. There are also human-curated playlists for various genres, activities and moods. Apple Music 1 radio (formerly Beats 1) offers live radio with interviews and exclusives. Additional stations provide genre-focused listening.
Overall, Apple Music stands out for its deep iOS integration, making it the obvious choice for Apple device owners. The free trial period gives you ample time to experience the service for yourself before subscribing.
YouTube
YouTube is an excellent free option for creating customizable music playlists (Created playlists). Users can build playlists of music videos from YouTube’s vast library of official artist channels, Vevo channels, and user uploads. With over 500 hours of video uploaded every minute, YouTube offers a huge variety of songs and genres to choose from (Playlist). The recommendation algorithm also suggests new music videos based on favorites in your playlist, helping users discover similar artists and expand their playlists organically (Create & manage playlists – Computer – YouTube Help).
Comparison of Top Free Music Apps
When looking at the top free music apps, there are some key differences to consider. Spotify offers the largest music library but requires a premium subscription for offline listening. YouTube Music also has a large catalog but limits background listening without a subscription. SoundCloud shines for emerging and independent artists. Pandora provides personalized radio stations. Amazon Music works well if you have Prime, while Apple Music has seamless integration with iOS devices. YouTube itself offers free music but has ads and video recommendations mixed in.
Overall, Spotify and YouTube Music tend to be the most fully-featured free music apps. However, Pandora and SoundCloud are great alternatives focusing on discovery and independent music. Apple Music and Amazon Music work best if you already use other services from those brands. And YouTube can be an option if you don’t mind ads and videos in your music. The best free music app depends on your priorities and what types of music you want to listen to.
Conclusion
Based on library size, discovery features, and ability to share playlists, the top free playlist apps are Spotify and YouTube Music.
Spotify has the largest music library of the free options, with over 80 million songs. Their personalized recommendations and playlists help users discover new music. Playlists are easy to share with friends or make public. However, Spotify does have ads and shuffle only limitations with the free tier.
YouTube Music also provides a robust library and discovery through YouTube’s catalog of music videos and songs. Users can create sharable playlists. The free, ad-supported tier has full-song playback unlike YouTube. The main downside is no ability to play offline or with the screen locked.
For the largest free music library and best discovery, Spotify is the top choice. YouTube Music is great for those who want a video-music experience. Both have community features to follow friends and share playlists.